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Syrian refugees are not taking jobs from Jordanians. Rather, they are given the opportunity to work in certain fields only if there is no Jordanian who wishes to occupy the position. Only Jordanian citizens can work in many positions in the formal sector.⁹²

In order for a Syrian refugee to acquire a permit, workers and their employers are required to provide a series of documents to the Labour Directorate: an application form, two copies of the work contract, a valid vocational license of the place of employment, a valid copy of the worker’s passport, proof of the worker’s subscription from the Social Security Corporation, and the Ministry of Interior’s identity card. If it is the worker’s first time applying for a work permit, his application is referred to a committee at the ministry for approval. The employer must pay for his worker’s permit, which typically costs between 170 and 370 JOD; however, in certain circumstances, they can reach up to 700 JOD. These work permits are valid for one year.⁹³

In a case study conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), they interviewed a series of Syrian refugee workers. One, under the pseudonym “Ahmad,” said he experienced many difficulties obtaining a work permit. Ahmad traveled legally to Jordan with his wife and three kids in 2011. He worked in construction upon his arrival, but it took nearly five years to get his work permit. He explained: “After months of begging my employer to apply for my work permit, he finally agreed. When we first arrived at the

92 “Medical professions; engineering professions; administrative and accounting professions; clerical work including typing and secretarial work; switchboards, telephones and connections works; warehouses works;

sales works, including all groups; haircutting works (coiffeur); decoration works; teaching professions, including all specialties except for the rare ones when there is no Jordanian available; fuel selling in main cities; electricity professions; mechanical and car repair professions; drivers; guards and servants; and buildings servants”

“Work Permits for Syrian Refugees in Jordan.” International Labour Organization, 2015,

www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_422478.pdf.

93 Ibid.

labour directorate, everyone was surprised to see a Syrian applying for a work permit. It was almost unheard of.’’⁹⁴ Even when he was able to get the permit, he experienced difficulties with the government:

“It took us six months of going back and forth to the labour directorate office to finally get the work permit. The process was complicated and there were no clear guidelines as to what was needed. But I have my work permit now and I hope this will help improve my situation.”⁹⁵

This is one of the many examples of Syrian refugees having problems obtaining work permits to work legally. These issues affect both Syrian refugees and Jordanian citizens, which perpetuate Jordan’s high unemployment rate, influencing their economy as a whole.

In turn, this causes tensions between the Jordanian government and Jordan’s inhabitants.

The University of Jordan conducted a survey in 2017 about Jordanians’ view of the current government. There were two samples: popular Jordan and opinion leaders. The popular Jordan sample consisted of 1944 people over the age of eighteen with an equal number of men and women. The sample size of the opinion leaders was 700. The poll inquired about issues including those of economic growth and unemployment. Of the popular Jordan sample, twenty six percent believed high prices to be Jordan’s most pressing issue. Twenty two percent said it is unemployment, nineteen percent voted poverty, and thirteen think it is the overall economy. In contrast, the opinion leaders believed that the overall economy was the key issue, followed by the unemployment at 16 percent, then poverty at 8 percent. Additionally, 57 percent said that their economic situations deteriorated in the past year, and forty three percent believe it will continue to worsen the following year. Fifty three percent believe that Jordan’s overall economic

94 Ibid.

95 Ibid.

situation will decline in the coming year, as well.⁹⁶ Jordanians’ perception of the economy can lead to negative sentiments towards its own government, leading to uncertainty and instability.

Another statistic included in the article that is worth noting is that sixty five percent of the participants in the study said that they believe the government should try to get Syrians refugees to return to their native country. This is poignant, because this survey is focused on issues of the economy; therefore, there could be a connection between these two points, though it this is not clearly stated in the article.⁹⁷ This connection suggests that tensions between Jordanian citizens and Syrian refugees are present, which is exactly what the Jordanian government could be trying to avoid by not declaring the refugees.

Despite the negative opinions of Jordanian citizens and the employment of Syrian refugees, strides towards employing Syrian refugees has been made by the UNHCR. In 2017, they established the first employment center in Zaatari. Zaatari is the world’s largest refugee camp holding 780,000 people. The center planned to host job fairs. When the UNHCR set up a tent to promote these jobs fairs they would hold, 800 refugees expressed interest. This article says that the job center has potential to positively impact Jordan’s economy.⁹⁸

Unemployment has shown to be an enormous problem in Jordan. Jordan’s concerns about this driver, unemployment, led the government to create the Jordan Compact. While

96 Azzeh, Laila. “Many Jordanians Blame Syrian Refugees for Jordan's Faltering Economy.” Al Bawaba, Al Bawaba, 8 May 2017, www.albawaba.com/business/jordan-economy-syrian-refugees-poll-971520.

97 Ibid.

98 Al Bawaba. “Job Centre Opens in Jordan's Zaatari Refugee Camp.” Al Bawaba, Al Bawaba, 24 Aug.

2017, www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/job-centre-opens-jordan%E2%80%99s-zaatari-refugee-camp-1013958.

the Jordan Compact set ambitious goals to decrease the unemployment rate, it continued to increase. In the survey conducted by the University of Jordan mentioned in Section 3.2,

“...the main reasons [popular Jordan] cited to support their view were the repeated increase in prices and the rise of unemployment rate (29 percent) followed by the lack of noticeable achievements and reforms (18 percent) and the government’s inability to fight corruption (16 percent),”⁹⁹

Furthermore, the opinion leaders had other observations:

“[Opinion leaders] believe the government to have been inefficient, he said, pointing out that the lack of tangible reforms ranked first (29 percent), followed by the “poor” performance of the premier and ministerial team (29 percent) and failure to address the economic challenges (17 percent).”¹⁰⁰

It is clear that Jordanians are fully aware of the unemployment issue in their country and understand the government’s efforts to create policies to improve the situation, yet the government’s struggle to actually implement the policies themselves. This affects the refugee population’s ability to immerse in Jordanian life and sustain livelihoods for themselves. The Jordan Compact proved to be insufficient, and Jordanians all seem to have a general idea as to why that is. Therefore, the JRP’s concise step by step plan is very clear and appears to leave less room for error, so perhaps it will be more successful than its predecessor, the Jordan Compact.

It is also worth noting that the title of the article addressed about the University of Jordan’s study is titled “Many Jordanians Blame Syrian Refugees for Jordan's Faltering Economy,” though it hardly mentions Syrian refugees. A connection between Syrian refugees and the Jordanian economy is not articulated in the article. The photo attached with the article is also not very relevant to the content: Two Jordanian police officers are

99 Azzeh, Laila. “Many Jordanians Blame Syrian Refugees for Jordan's Faltering Economy.” Al Bawaba, Al Bawaba, 8 May 2017, www.albawaba.com/business/jordan-economy-syrian-refugees-poll-971520.

100 Ibid.

holding Syrian children with the caption “In a new poll, 65 percent of Jordanian respondents believe that the government should encourage Syrian refugees to go back to their country.”¹⁰¹ The newspaper in which the article was published, Al-Bawaba, could be attempting to make a statement on how they feel about the Syrian refugees in Jordan in order to receive a response from the government. By soliciting a reply, the government would be obligated to address the magnitude of refugees in Jordan; therefore, it is likely the government will remain silent and focus on implementing the policy already set in place.

Furthermore, in an article from The Jordan Times, discussed a study conducted by the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan where they measured Jordanians’ and Syrian refugees’ perceptions of each other. According to the study, 49 percent of Jordanians felt as if refugees living outside of camps "highly threatens the security and stability of Jordan".¹⁰² 90 percent of those who reported opposite sentiments knew those Syrians before the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. Before the war, 51 percent of Jordanians felt positively towards Syrians, but this number has now dropped to 27 percent. Finally, 77 percent of Jordanians said that “the refugee influx is increasing pressure on the economy and services provided by the government.”¹⁰³

These two surveys published in Al-Bawaba and The Jordan Times make it clear that many Jordanian have reservations about the high number of Syrian refugees living in Jordan. Jordanian citizens perceive that Syrian refugees play a role in their likelihood of

101 Ibid.

102 Tabazah, Sawsan. “Jordanians Feel Less Safe since Syrian Refugee Crisis Started - Survey.” Jordan Times, 16 Sept. 2017, www.jordantimes.com/news/local/jordanians-feel-less-safe-syrian-refugee-crisis-started-%E2%80%94-survey.

103 Ibid.

being hired. Because of this threat that Jordanians feel towards Syrian refugees due to employment, tensions rise between the two groups of people.